Walk with me my little child
by blissfully ignorant
Summary: this is what I get for reading ASoUE at three am while listening to System of a Down. Anyway, Olaf has captured the orphans and Violet gets some strange information. The story is better than the summery, trust me.
1. chapter 1

~a/n: this story was developed while listening to "The Forest", a very shibby System of a Down song that's been stuck in my head for ages. I knew it had to be used for a story.and then Madam Luna (everyone applaud for her, as her stories are some beautiful pieces of art) went and wrote that Olaf/Violet story and my brain went into overdrive. I think I busted a circuit in there somewhere. So thank you, Luna, and enjoy!!  
  
W a l k W i t h M e M y L i t t l e C h i l d  
  
Violet squirmed beneath Olaf's tight grasp on her shoulder. "Stop staring at me."  
  
"What are you thinking?" he asked, pulling her face before his. His eyes, wide and jet black, reflected her frightened face like glass marbles. She looked away, afraid to meet his eyes again.  
  
"Please leave me alone."  
  
"What are you thinking?" he asked again. His voice was soft, gentle, and yet his eyes were still mocking her. His long, slender fingers slid to her chin again, pulling her face gently but firmly forward once again. "I can almost see the cogs turning in your mind. So tell me."  
  
"I will not," she protested.  
  
He pushed her into the chair behind her. The room was dimly lit, and empty but for the two of them, the chair, and a small table. "Oh come now, I'm the one standing before you with a gun in my hand, and you're the helpless orphan. Do you think you're in any position to protest?"  
  
Violet didn't respond, but looked at the floor. She knew that he was right- he was in a position to kill her. And she knew there were worse things that he could do then kill her.  
  
"I knew you'd see things my way. So, do you want to tell me what's going on up there?" he tapped the side of her head.  
  
A tear slid down Violet's face. Her hands were sweating and she didn't know what to do. "I-I wanted to know what you did with Klaus and Sunny."  
  
"Ah, those irritating two siblings of yours. Well, they're alive for now, although I can't promise they'll stay that way. Sunny, at least, may actually live through this endeavor, as those teeth of hers are quite useful. Besides, a few members of the theater troupe have developed a strange liking for her."  
  
"Please.please don't kill my siblings."  
  
"My dear girl, please don't look down that way," he huffed, pulling her head delicately but firmly upward, "your face is far too pretty to be shown to the floor all the time."  
  
She looked at his face, fearful and yet defiant. "What are you planning?"  
  
"You're smart, you figure it out," he said, crossing his arms and raising his monobrow, an amused expression on his face.  
  
"I know that you're still after our family fortune. But I have a hard time believing that money is your only ambition. You're planning something else."  
  
His eyes narrowed and she thought suddenly, I've gone too far. "Very good, very good," he commented absently, glancing around the room like he was trying to control his temper, "but can you tell me what exactly it is I'm after?"  
  
"No."  
  
He smiled, that horrible mocking smile, that smile like someone who was telling a horrible joke. And then, he dropped the vicious punch line of that hideous joke. "For quite a while now, my target has been you."  
  
Violet felt like the bottom had dropped out of her stomach. Her brain numbly flitted over the words he said and it failed to find connection. "Me?" she whispered hoarsely.  
  
"Indeed. You have barely left my mind since that night at the Marvelous Marriage. It may or may not be love.oh hell; I can't call it anything less than an obsession. You haunt me, like the answer to a question I don't remember asking. And so, my dear, I simply MUST figure out what it is about you that drives me."  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
"What I'm saying is this: I need to know what it is about you that drives me, why I see your face when I close my eyes. I'm not comfortable with calling it love-I love Esme dearly, and yet I think of you even when I'm with her. You are going to help me figure this out."  
  
"Help you how?"  
  
"Well, I haven't quite figured that part out yet."  
  
Fear and revulsion flowed through Violet's veins like ice water. Obsession? But she knew what she had to do. "Alright, I'll help. But only if you keep Sunny and Klaus alive and well."  
  
Olaf scratched his chin. "Deal."  
  
"How do I know I can trust you?"  
  
He smiled again. "Scout's honor. You do trust me, don't you?" He read her glare and knew all he needed to know. "Alright, alright, I'll bring them down here every so often to prove it."  
  
"Then I'll do the best I can."  
  
His smile softened a bit, and Violet shuddered. That smile made her very uncomfortable. "I have a feeling I can trust you. Thank you."  
  
Without another word he turned on his heel and left. Violet, suddenly overwhelmed at what she had just done, broke down weeping fearfully. 


	2. chapter 2

~a/n: wow. At first this story was gonna be a one shot deal, but I was afraid that if I didn't write more Madam Luna might never let go of my arm. So, after I got some stitches, I decided to appease her wrath, and rereading the story made me realize exactly how much fun these Violaf stories are to write. "Violaf" is also a fun word to say. Sounds like an antidepressant, doesn't it? Go on, say it out loud. Fun, yes? Anyway, enjoy chapter 2! (ps: this is a bit more profane than the rest of my work. I sorry.)  
  
C h a p t e r T w o  
  
"You seem to be causing a lot of marital problems for them," Klaus whispered, looking to the door. Just beyond it Esme and Olaf were screaming at each other over something no one could quite make out. "From what I gather, she wants to kill you and he still needs you around. But he won't let her kill us either."  
  
"Ioma thow chew," Sunny added thoughtfully, meaning something to the effect of "but I wonder why they won't kill us."  
  
Violet leaned forward and whispered, "he won't kill us because I made him promise he wouldn't."  
  
"Domo no thay," Sunny said, rolling her eyes and glaring at Violet.  
  
"Sunny's right-what has Count Olaf ever done that would make you think we could trust him? The only promise he's ever kept is that he would hunt us down and kill us!"  
  
"Yes, well, we made a deal."  
  
"What kind of deal?" Klaus asked cautiously, giving Violet a very worried look. "What did you agree to?"  
  
"Well." Violet's voice dropped even lower and her siblings had to strain to hear her. "He said he'd keep you two safe if I promised to help him figure out why he's obsessed with me."  
  
"He's OBSESSED with you?" Klaus cried, and things went momentarily silent outside.  
  
"Shhh, I don't think he wants Esme to know!"  
  
"Well, yeah, competition from a beautiful 14 year old would drive her insane. But that's still really creepy."  
  
"Ianna no wat?" Sunny asked.  
  
"Obsessed," Klaus explained hurriedly "means that he can't stop thinking about Violet."  
  
"Eww," Sunny said, stumbling over to Violet and giving her a gentle, comforting bite.  
  
The door burst open. "Alright, brats, visiting hours are over." He snatched up Sunny and pulled Klaus roughly to his feet. He shoved them roughly out the door and slammed it shut. He swore and sat down on the floor across the room from where Violet had been huddling nervously with her brother and sister.  
  
Violet looked away nervously. This was the first time he had been to see her since they had made the deal. The strained, angry look on his face made her feel rather uncomfortable.  
  
He took a steadying breath and opened his eyes. "Good morning, Violet."  
  
"Hello," she said nervously.  
  
"How are you doing?"  
  
"Fine," she lied, wishing he would stop staring at her like that.  
  
"That's good to hear." Beyond the door they could still hear Esme shrieking. A loud thud interrupted her, and she screamed some more. "JESUS, WOMAN, SHUT UP!" he yelled in the general direction of the door, and then turned back to Violet. "She is going to drive me insane."  
  
Violet made an impartial noise and nodded her head distractedly.  
  
"So, where do we begin?"  
  
"I-I don't know exactly."  
  
"Me neither. Do you know anything about psychology?"  
  
"No. That sort of thing was always Klaus' territory. I'm just the inventor. Have you ever been to a psychologist?"  
  
"Nope. Flo used to be one, but then she joined the troupe."  
  
"So why don't you talk to her. I'm sure she could help you more than I could."  
  
"Honestly, she's one of the greatest evil theater troupe members a guy could ask for, but I don't trust her as far as I could spit a rat. And it's not like I can just let this go-I seem incapable of ridding myself of your itch. Really, you're my only hope to get you out of my head."  
  
If he hadn't spent half of the past year trying to kill her, she would have mentioned that she would be quite willing to get out of his head. However, she felt this was no time for cynicism. "Ah," she said faintly.  
  
"Any ideas?"  
  
"I guess we should start with your childhood. That seems like a nice place to start."  
  
"A good a place as any. But there's not really much to remember. When I was seven I was sent to Prufrock Prep. Two years early, but he really wanted to get rid of me."  
  
"He?" Violet asked, intrigued in spite of herself.  
  
"My uncle. I lived with him because my parents, well, were hardly functional lunatics. Both of them were stark raving mad. So I was moved in with my uncle, and the headmaster of Prufrock at the time owed him a favor. I went to classes with everyone else but lived in that little tin shack alone. I can still feel those damn crabs snapping at my toes. I'm smarter than I look, and I studied incredibly hard so that I could graduate a year early and get the hell out of there. I think that's when I started to get evil."  
  
"Really?" Violet said, nodding in a way that she hoped seemed encouraging.  
  
"Mm-hmm. I moved to a rather large city and met Esme. She was very young at the time, very pretty, and a lot easier to deal with. In fact, she was just a little older than you."  
  
Violet unconsciously gave an infinitesimal shudder at this. Olaf seemed not to notice.  
  
"Anyway, I became her theater coach. She had a lot of raw acting talent, and I did my best to refine it. And I suppose that I fell in love with her then. We promised each other we'd get married, maybe settle down, have a family, live a normal life."  
  
Violet tried to imagine Olaf living a normal life, and could only conjure up old memories of his house in the city.  
  
"Of course, that never happened, and for whatever reason she went off and married that candy ass Jerome. Things got pretty bad, and one day I decide that I was just going to give into my nature and become a fully fledged criminal. You know, I think giving you my life story isn't helping the situation at all."  
  
"What else is there to do?"  
  
"Nothing. I guess we just have to wait until next week, after you've had a chance to talk to your brother about psychology." He rose, crossed the room, and then sat before her on the floor, taking both her hands in his. "Goodbye, sweet Violetta."  
  
Violet's eyes widened and she leaned back as far away from him as possible, flattening her back against the wall. He released her hands and left without another word.  
  
~a/n 2: Madam Luna, please forgive me for borrowing the nickname "Violetta", but it was just too much to resist. THANK YOU, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, AND GOODNIGHT!! 


	3. chapter 3

~a/n: Ah, chapter three. And I'm still giggling over the phrase "Violaf". It's so much fun to say. Well, almost all of my inspiration comes from music, and you'll be pleased to know that I've found a new inspiration song for this story-"Noise and Kisses" by The Used. Mmmyep. And the whole business with sour food is a tribute to a Japanese rock band called Malice Mizer. They are so very amusing. Prepare for massive Violaf-y happiness!  
  
C h a p t e r T h r e e  
  
"Klaus, what happened to your face?"  
  
"Esme hit me with her shoe. She was pretty pissed off after Olaf came in here last week."  
  
"But why'd she hit you?" Violet cried, carefully prodding the nasty bruise on his cheek.  
  
"Because she's Esme Squalor. Taking her anger out on other people is like a hobby for her."  
  
"I still don't like the look of that," she commented, but she ceased her prodding.  
  
"So he wants you to psychoanalyze him?" Klaus asked worriedly. "I didn't really understand the psychology book in father's library. I was only eight, you know. All I really remember is something about the Oedipus complex."  
  
"So what should I do?"  
  
"Ask him to tell you anything about his life. Childhood, his relationship with Esme, any pets he's ever had, it doesn't matter. Then try to draw parallels between what he tells you and the fact that he's obsessed with you. You're good at inventing, so invent!"  
  
"Will that work?"  
  
"I hope so, or else we're dead."  
  
"I have a feeling that he's not going to kill us. Not just yet, anyway."  
  
Klaus gave her a very meaningful look. "There are worse things than death, Violet. Be careful."  
  
Sunny, who had been clinging forlornly to Violet's arm, nodded up at her sister and hugged her tighter. The door opened and the hook handed man entered.  
  
"Come on then, you two," he said, picking up Sunny and cradling her gently in his well-polished hooks. He gave Klaus a nudge with the toe of his boot and started out.  
  
"Good luck," he mouthed, following them out.  
  
"Good evening, Violetta," Olaf said, smiling cheerfully. He looked tired, his eyes were sunken, and his voice was scratchy as though he had been yelling quite a bit. From her basement room she had heard the screaming matches between he and Esme, so this came as no surprise. He sat on his customary spot on the floor across from her. "How are you doing?"  
  
"I'm okay, I guess," Violet shrugged. Something about his eyes, his false cheer, made her think he was clinging to reason with a very thin thread. She tried to smile and managed a look of weak optimism.  
  
"Have you talked to your brother about the psychological business?"  
  
"Mm-hmm."  
  
"Great. So what do we do now? Where do we begin?"  
  
"Just start talking. Talk about anything."  
  
"Anything? The first thing that pops into my head? I have a hard time believing that."  
  
"Well."Violet thought quickly. "your subconscious mind will throw whatever you really want to say out as jus whatever randomly pops into your head."  
  
"Ah, right. Well, for some reason, I've been craving sour food everyday for three weeks. Grapefruit didn't help, and I ate a lemon yesterday. See, I don't understand how this could be a key to my obsession with you."  
  
Violet wished he would stop saying obsession so casually, like he wasn't the evil man who had struck her brother, kidnapped her sister and two best friends, and pursued them for half a year. "Try something else. Any specific childhood memories? Pets?"  
  
"When I was about twenty, just after Esme left for Jerome, I met a girl. Now that I think of it, she looked kinda like you-same dark hair-and she was an actress too. She was pale and tall, with limbs like celery stalks. I used to call her Celery. God, she was beautiful. If I didn't know any better I would have said I was in love with her."  
  
"Whatever happened to her?" That was easy, Violet thought, in love with a girl who looked like me? That would explain it.  
  
"She committed suicide. I took a trip to the mountains, looking for an old friend, and when I came back after a few days I found her dead in the bathroom in a tub full of blood. I found out afterwards that she was manic depressive."  
  
"Do you think maybe you've been after me because she resembled me? Maybe you just wanted to prolong the magic that you lost when she committed suicide."  
  
Olaf scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Possible. I don't know yet-let me get back to you. Next week?"  
  
Violet shrugged, trying not to show that her heart was sinking. She wasn't getting out of this as easily as she'd hoped. "Sure."  
  
He smiled at her, not tired or falsely cheerful, but something else. Something in the crooked curvature of his mouth and the look in his eyes made her feel more than uncomfortable. She felt fearful, nervous, and above all like she had to get out of there. She looked at the floor, the walls, anything, but she couldn't keep her eyes from his, like someone witnessing a train wreck. Her eyes fluttered about the room absently as he approached her.  
  
"You are a godsend," he whispered, running his fingers through her hair. He leaned down and kissed her forehead firmly, and then he turned from her and walked toward the door. He turned suddenly at the door and said, in a terribly strained voice, "This is your last chance to back out, Violet. I'll go back to being the bad guy and you three can be the good guys and run away from here. I'll still follow you, Violetta, I'll follow you everywhere, because somehow a little bit of me leaves with you. But why do you think you're always one step ahead of me? Why do you think you three are still alive? This is your last chance to get the hell out of my mind, to run away. I'll let you get away this time. I'll pursue you always, but you can get away."  
  
"Why would you do that?" Suspicion flooded her senses.  
  
"I've found that your two siblings are tolerable, even pleasant, when they calm down. And there's nothing about you I don't like. Not a thing. And I know to you I'm the devil in carnet, but I have a soul. A very dark soul. You may not believe it, but I just want to spare your pretty little mind." He walked out the door and shouted behind him, "last chance," before the door slammed.  
  
Violet sat down in shock. 


	4. chapter 4

~a/n: hee hee hee. Chapter four. The final chapter of my Violaf anti- masterpiece. Anticlimactic, I know, but I'm trying to set it up nicely with a sequel in the works. Hey, he promised to pursue in chapter three and I couldn't resist the story of said pursuit. Have fun with this. :)  
  
C h a p t e r F o u r  
  
As promised, they were able to escape. The door was unlocked, and Klaus and Sunny were huddled restlessly in the corner of another room, conviently unlocked as well. Violet shook them awake.  
  
"Shhh," Violet said as Sunny made a small noise. "Let's get out of here."  
  
"They're all pretty drunk," Klaus whispered, "and I mean REALLY drunk. Tonight's as good a night as ever if we're going to escape."  
  
They crept quietly out of the dark room and headed for the door.  
  
"No," Klaus said, "too obvious. They'll hear it." Outside the rain fell and a breeze drifted at them. "Open window," he whispered, "first floor. Almost like they wanted us to escape."  
  
Violet tried to share his relief, but she knew why the window was opened. "Klaus, you go out first. I'll hand you Sunny and follow you."  
  
"Right," Klaus said. He disappeared out the window, and a moment later she heard the gentle thud of his feet on the floor. She passed Sunny out the window, but as soon as the little girl was out of sight a hand gripped her arm tightly.  
  
"You run, and I'll pursue, just like always. I'm growing fond of this little dance we do, these steps are so familiar. I'll let you get far away, far enough away to feel safe, but watch the shadows. Look out for eyes in the hedges, a stranger in a parked car, a distant laugh. I'll always be there."  
  
As Violet leapt out the window after her siblings, she distantly heard Klaus asked what had taken her so long, but her mind was focused on Olaf's words. Violet felt a twinge of something. It prodded and she ignored it. It prodded again and she ignored it more vigorously. It jabbed her heart and she gave in to it. As the three Bauldilare orphans stole off into the night, all Violet felt for the man she had hated and feared for six months was pity. 


End file.
